University Library - Explore the possibilities - University Library - Newcastle University

CVs, Applications & LinkedIn profiles - Careers Service - Newcastle University

Events - Careers Service - Newcastle University

Internships, Placements & Shadowing - Careers Service - Newcastle University

Careers Modules - Careers Service - Newcastle University

Global Impact - Global Challenges - Newcastle University

Faculty of Science, Agriculture & Engineering - Research - Newcastle University

Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences - Research - Newcastle University

Research Directory - Research - Newcastle University

Further Study - Careers Service - Newcastle University

Lists of related items should be written [semantically](https://html.com/semantic-markup/) as a 
list.

Usually this means rewriting these to use the `<ul>` or `<ol>` tags.

This allows assistive technologies to more easily navigate from item to
item, or past entire groups of links if the user wants to. 

## Examples 

### Navigation

This navigation:

```html
<a href="/about">About us</a>
<a href="/products">Products</a>
<a href="/contact">Contact us</a>
```

Should be rewritten as a list:

```html
<ul>
  <li><a href="/about">About us</a></li>
  <li><a href="/products">Products</a></li>
  <li><a href="/contact">Contact us</a></li>
</ul>
```

### Tables for content

This single-column table is redundant. There is no
value in placing the content in a table, which makes
it harder for screen reader users to interpret and interact
with.

```html
<table>
  <tr>
    <td>
      Banana
    </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>
      Apple
    </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>
      Pear
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>
```

Should be rewritten as a list:

```html
<ul>
  <li>Banana</li>
  <li>Apple</li>
  <li>Pear</li>
</ul>
```

## Justification

Users of assistive technologies, like screen readers, can skip an entire
list in one step. In some cases, they can even search inside a list. 

These aids are not available where links are written outside a list. 
Failing to use lists correctly can force users to have to step through
hundreds of items one at a time.

## Methodology

1. Any single-column tables are automatically considered 
   redundant lists. 
2. For non-table elements, recursively work down the page looking inside
   each element for links separated by minimal amounts of non-link text. 
   If the non-link text is below 30 characters 
   in length, we assume we're inside content that should be a list.
   Some exceptions are made, e.g. the presence of an `<hr>` would break
   out of the list.

## More information

See [Technique
H48](https://www.w3.org/TR/2016/NOTE-WCAG20-TECHS-20161007/H48) for
details.

mark-navigation-section-as-list

December 2024

November 2024

Newcastle University

Title / URL	Issues
University Library - Explore the possibilities - University Library - Newcastle Universitywww.ncl.ac.uk/library/	7
CVs, Applications & LinkedIn profiles - Careers Service - Newcastle Universitywww.ncl.ac.uk/careers/applications/	6
Events - Careers Service - Newcastle Universitywww.ncl.ac.uk/careers/events/	6
Internships, Placements & Shadowing - Careers Service - Newcastle Universitywww.ncl.ac.uk/careers/workexperience/	6
Careers Modules - Careers Service - Newcastle Universitywww.ncl.ac.uk/careers/modules/	6
Global Impact - Global Challenges - Newcastle Universitywww.ncl.ac.uk/globalchallenges/global-impact/	6
Faculty of Science, Agriculture & Engineering - Research - Newcastle Universitywww.ncl.ac.uk/research/directory/sage/	6
Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences - Research - Newcastle Universitywww.ncl.ac.uk/research/directory/hass/	6
Research Directory - Research - Newcastle Universitywww.ncl.ac.uk/research/directory/	6
Further Study - Careers Service - Newcastle Universitywww.ncl.ac.uk/careers/study/	6

Write lists or groups of links semantically

Newcastle University

Where this issue has occurred